God's covenant with man states that the seed of Abraham would be in number of the "stars in the sky" and the "sands of the sea", so where are all these people at? God also said that they would possess the gates of their enemies and live on the fat of the land.....more clues....
There were 12 tribes of Israel and 10 of those where absorbed into the Gentile nations and it just so happen that the 10 lost tribes, the lost sheep of Israel, were headed by the firstborn of God, Ephraim. It was Ephraim, and Mannaseh, partially, that received the covenant from Jacob as it passed on. However, a special blessing from God was given to Judah, Jacob saying that the sceptre of leadership or position of King would always be with Judah (Gen. 49:10).
Who is Israel, today? Well Paul quotes Hosea's prophecy that was given to the house of Israel which was those 10 tribes that God rended away from Solomon and the rest of Israel which was Judah and a few families from each of the tribes who has intermarried with them. Hosea says that they would be "loammi" for a time, not realizing their heritage as God's chosen people after they were scattered into and absorbed by the Gentile nations - even worshipping foreign gods, but God says that there would be the time that they would come forth as "sons of the Living God". The Sons of the Living God are those people that Jesus called and who heard and responded to His voice.
So, do we really know who the "chosen" people are if we are Christians that have heard and responded to the voice of Jesus, following after Him? How many of us knows our lineage, that we might not just be related to one of thse 10 lost tribes who were not named "Jews" after the house of Judah, but were Israelites - sons of Jacob? We are Israel who confess the Lord Jesus Christ, whether grafted in or natural branch, as God warns us to not be proud against the natural branches who were divorced from God. That divorce no longer stands, though, as Jesus died upon the cross and is able to remarry any, having died and then come alive again in the resurrection. We, too, count ourselves as dead at the cross and now alive in Christ.
Jeremiah 31:9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Amos 9:9 "For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.
Deut.28:64 YHVH will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.
Hosea 1:9 Then God said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.
10 "Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’
11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Matthew 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Gen. 48:18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Ge 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Isa 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.